Ohio GOP Rep. Bill Johnson said Friday his small business-dependent district was hit hard by the nation’s "economic shutdown,” declaring it cost his constituents “a lot.”
In an interview on Newsmax TV’s “The Chris Salcedo Show,” Johnson said small business is the engine for the nation — and Ohio in particular.
"About 60% of the jobs across the country are created by small businesses,” he said. “In my district it's much more than that- most of the people here in my district work for small businesses. And so it's played a big, big part... it's costing a lot."
Johnson said his biggest frustration with Congress now is that it’s not doing the work it was elected to do.
“My biggest frustration is with the Speaker” of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., he said.
“If [she] would call Congress back into session- we can do our jobs,” he said. “You know we didn't stay at home during the Civil war, we didn't stay home during World War I, II or Korea, Vietnam or 9/11. We should be back there doing the work the people elected us to do.”
He also ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for not knowing how the U.S. economy works and the nation’s “indomitable spirit.”
“She's uninformed about our America's economy and [how it] grew to what it what it is today,” he said. “There's no nation on the planet that was more capable and prepared to handle a crisis like this than the United States. The strength of our nation is not in big government. It's in the indomitable spirit , the heartbeat of the American people.
“That’s where innovation and ingenuity lies,” he continued. “And if we can just get government out of the way- take care of our public health concerns... get testing out there, get back out there. Then the American people will do what the American people have always done. The markets will correct and we'll be back on."
According to Johnson, smaller government is better government.
“Big government has grown over the last 50 years,” he said. “And it needs to trim down. We've seen what can happen when you can trim it down. Look at what the Small Business Administration did over the last couple of weeks. They processed more loans in in two weeks than they did in all of 2019. We know that we can make government work efficiently if we make it work for the people."
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